T

wenty-year-old Rahmansyah never expected his addiction to Facebook and Internet gaming would one day land him in prison.

Spending several hours a day in Internet cafes to make himself "available" in the cyber world, it was not long before Rahmansyah found that his salary from a freelance perfume selling was far from enough to support his new hobby.

When he finally found himself running out money he decided to snatch a lady's handbag.

Rahmansyah never updated his Facebook status again. His first-ever criminal act went awry when several passersby caught him and brought him to the police.

"I didn't know what had come over me. All I was thinking was how I could go to the Internet caf* as soon as possible," Rahmansyah, who lives in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, said recently, at Jakarta Police headquarters.

A trash picker, Edi, 33, from Serpong, South Tangerang, had a similar story of desperation.

Earning less and less money from scavenging over the past few weeks, he said he had no choice when he decided to steal a laptop belonging to a resident from the nearby Bumi Serpong Damai residential complex.

Edi, however, returned the laptop to the owner a couple days later because he did not know where and how he could sell the laptop.

"I was hoping that the owner would forgive me," the father of two said. "But, he was still very angry and called the police, who arrested me."

Edi now watches helplessly as his wife takes care their 8-year-old son and 9-month-old baby girl on her own.

"If I could turn back time, I would never do that," he said with tears in his eyes.

With the number of people living in poverty increasing from year to year, street crimes stand out as one of the common problems of living in big, densely-populated cities like Jakarta.

The situation is made worse by the widening gap between the rich and the poor, allowing street criminals to justify crimes like pickpocketing, extortion or robbery as just a way to collect small change from tightfisted Jakartans.

Head of the city police's violent crimes unit, Adj. Sr. Comr. Nico Afinta said that street crimes were almost always economically motivated.

"If someone desperately needs money then they will commit a crime anywhere, anytime," he said Monday.

"If this person meets other people who have committed similar crimes or suffer the same financial problems, the chance *of them working together to commit crimes* becomes even bigger."

On Monday, city police announced they had arrested 300 suspects between Nov. 20 and 29 in an annual operation designed to eradicate thuggery and street crime in Greater Jakarta.

During the first 10 days of the operation, named "Sikat Jaya," the police said they had closed a total of 199 street crime cases.

Of the 199 cases, auto theft and violent robbery topped the list with a total of 99 cases, followed by brawls (35 cases), gambling (24 cases), pick pocketing (17 cases), and others (24 cases).

With 41 cases and 47 arrested suspects, West Jakarta is the most street-crime ridden area of Greater Jakarta, followed by Bekasi, West Java, with 28 cases and 41 arrested suspects and East Jakarta with 17 cases and 21 arrested suspects.

The operation, which will be held until Dec. 20, is part of the National Police's fight against thuggery and street crimes announced last year.

In another operation conducted between Jan. 20 and Feb. 11 this year, city police arrested thousands and detained 557 criminals for their involvement in cases of pickpocketing, gambling and violent robbery.

Nico, however, said the eradication of street crime and thuggery could never be achieved by the police alone.

He strongly urged the government, local administrations and community groups to work hand in hand in creating more job opportunities or providing skills training for ex-criminals.